Never Underestimate the Predictability of Stupidity: Part II

I recently came across a video on CNN that displayed a young man sticking his fingers into a jaguar’s (panthera onca) cage at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Evidently, he decided that it would be a great idea to release the video on liveleak for all to see. Thankfully, the news media caught on and proceeded to make a complete dimwit of the person. As is obvious, stunts like this tend to irritate me. Would you find it in your best interest to tease a wild jaguar? I think not. A stunt like this is not exactly like sticking your fingers into “fluffy’s” cage on the way to the vet. Unfortunately, this gentlemen still has all of his fingers.

Zoos have a myriad of fences set up for a reason: to keep visitors and staff safe. Countless “exotic” animals in zoos have the ability to kill a human without thinking about it. However, scaling a fence or two to taunt an apex predator (top of the food chain) can lead to a major league headache for all involved. Look at it this way, the jaguar is widely believed to have the second most powerful bite of all mammals, which even allow it to puncture the shells of turtles (i.e. biting through solid bone) or kill a giant anaconda. Taking off a human finger is comparable to running a hot knife through butter.

I find it rather pathetic that a great predator like the jaguar has been reduced to being teased in a zoo cage. Ancient South American cultures idolized this great cat. For example, the name jaguar is derived from the ancient Guarani language word “jaguarete,” which translates to “kills in a single bound.” The Guarani revered this powerful animal, as they believed that the cat’s spots were comparable to the stars above (jaguars are usually nocturnal hunters). Sadly, those days have long since passed to days where the jaguar is now an endangered species.

What lesson can be taken away this above-mentioned incident? There are two: One, don’t stick your fingers in a cage at the zoo. Two, show a little respect for a creature that could easily have you for breakfast.

Video link: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/07/15/dnt.ok.finger.in.cage.koco?iref=videosearch